Aerosol dispensers



- Sept. 5, 1967 RElCH ETAL 3,339,806

AEROSOL DISPENSERS Filed Aug. 21, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WWW 1F INVENTORS IRVING REICH JOHN E. AYRES AGENT Sept. 5, 1967 I. REICH ETAL AEROSOL DISPENSERS Fil ed Aug. 21, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 S INVENTORS IRVING REICH JOHN E. AYRES wbm AGENT Patented Sept. 5, 1967 3,33%806 AEROSOL DISPENSERS Irving Reich, Princeton, and John E. Ayres, Mountain Side, NJ., assignors to Carter-Wallace, Inc., a corporation of Maryland Filed Aug. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 391,211 3 Claims. (Cl. 222-146) The present invention relates in general to devices for preparing and dispensing aerosol lathers in heated condition. More particularly, this invention relates to improved devices which are capable of heating such lathers with high efiiciency.

In recent years, pressurized aerosol products, such as shaving cream lathers, shampoo lathers, and the like, have been gaining widespread recognition. More recently, a number of devices which permit the dispensing of such products in a heated condition have been described.

The advantages which can be derived by the use of such latter devices are especially obvious when such de- .vices are used in conjunction with aerosol shaving lathers; therefore, the present invention will be described with particular reference to containers for preparing and dispensing aerosol shaving lathers, but it should be evident from the following description that the devices of the present invention are suitable for use in conjunction with a number of aerosol products, such as lather shampoos, and the like.

Aerosol shaving lathers are usually produced from liquid compositions comprising a mixture of an aqueous soap or detergent solution and a liquefied normallygaseous propellant. Such compositions, when released from a valve-controlled aerosol type container yield a stable lather which can be directly applied to the skin of the user prior to shaving. Due to the cooling effect exerted by the expansion and evaporation of the liquefied propellant the temperature of such lather is usually below room temperature and the body temperature of the user. The application of such cool lather to the body of the user is not entirely pleasant. Furthermore the softening effect of such lather on the beard or hair of the user is reduced by the lower temperature thereof.

The desirability of providing a heated aerosol shaving lather has been recently recognized and a number of devices have been proposed in the art to perform such function. Such prior devices, however, have been generally inefficient and cumbersome and have failed to provide a simple, practical and economical way to solve the proposed problem.

Some of-the proposed devices utilize electrical means residence time. Furthermore, a substantial volume of lather is left within the tube after the user discontinues the operation. This residual lather, in a compressed state due to the high flow resistance of the device, will expand and ooze out of the tube outlet causing prolonged and copious afterflow.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for preparing and dispensing heated aerosol foams. It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved device for preparing and dispensing heated shaving lathers, said device eliminating one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art. These and other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the instant specification.

In a broad aspect, the present invention relates to a device for preparing and dispensing heated aerosol foams from an aerosol-type container provided with an outlet member and containing therein a mixture of an aqueous soap solution and a liquefied normally-gaseous propellant, said device comprising a heat-conductive elongated body portion having a passageway extending therethrough, an inlet means on said passageway adapted for interconnection with said outlet member, an outlet means on said passageway having a manually-operated discharge valve for dispensing the contents therefrom, and heating means on said heat-conductive body portion.

The present device permits heating the contents of the aerosol container prior to extrusion while they are still in the liquid form and thus eliminate most of the disadvantages of the prior art devices hereinbefore discussed.

The present invention will be best understood from the following description of preferred devices of the invention, selected for the purpose of illustration and not of limitation, and shown in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred device, partly in longitudinal section;

FIG. 1A is a sectional view taken along the line 1A- 1A of FIG. 1.

With continuing reference to the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 shows a preferred form of a heating device of the invention removably mounted on a standard aerosol container of a type commercially used by some manufacturers of aerosol products. It is comprised of can 10 having a suitably attached bottom, not shown in the drawing, and lid 11. Lid 11 has a central opening for disfor heating a long tube through which the lather product passes after release from the aerosol container. Such use of electrical heating means introduces the hazards and inconvenience of fires and electric cords.

Other similar devices which have been proposed utilize a heating jacket around a lather discharge tube, said heating jacket being connected to a hot Water tap and being supplied with a continuous flow of hot water therefrom. Due to the low heat transfer coefficients inherent to such lathers, such devices are ineffective in raising the product to temperatures substantially close to the hot water tap temperature unless a lather discharge tube of substantial length is used. The use of such long tubes results in a breakdown of the lather due to the considerable flow resistance offered by such tubes and to the long charge of product, said opening being provided with manually-operated valve means.

The valve means include a diaphragm 12, preferably made of rubber or other resilient material, which is mounted between the lid 11 and the conventional dip tube 13. The diaphragm 12 includes a plurality of openings 14 which are normally closed by the centrally located depending tubular portion 15 of lid 11. For normal usage, such aerosol containers are provided with a valve actuator assembly, not shown in the drawing, which consists of a valve button, a dispensing spout, and a tubular valve actuator extending downwardly from said valve button. Customarily, the user manually depresses the valve button, displacing the tubular valve actuator downwardly in actuating contact with the diaphragm 12. When the diaphragm is thus depressed, the openings 14 are no longer obstructed by the tubular portion 15 and the pressurized r product is discharged from the can 10 through said openings and thence through the dispensing spout of said valve actuator assembly. In the practice of the present embodiment of the invention, the valve actuator assembly, which is customarily mounted with a friction fit coaxially with the opening in lid 11, is removed prior to mounting the heating device of the invention on the aerosol container.

The valve construction described above is conventional and it will be understood, of course, that other and different forms of valve mechanisms may be employed with the present invention. It will also be understood that the use of such different valve mechanism will necessitate some minor changes in the construction of the novel heating device, but the necessity of such changes and the extent thereof will become apparent to one skilled in the art in the light of the instant specification.

The illustrated heating device includes a body 16 capacitated to hold a supply of hot water and having the general configuration of a cup with an open top. It is made of common plastic material having the properties of stiffness, lightness and low rate of heat conduction, such as linear polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and the like.

The bottom of cup 16 is fashioned with a configuration generally complementary to the top of the aerosol package and includes a depending peripheral annular flange 17 provided with an internal annular channel 18 to firmly engage the upper rim 19 of the package with a friction snap-fit.

Extending downwardly from cup 16 is centrally located tubular valve actuator 20 having an internal passageway 21 extending therethrough. When the heating device is mounted on the package by exerting downward pressure sufficient to snap annular flange 17 over rim 19, the tubular actuator 20 is similarly displaced downwardly with a friction fit through the tubular opening defined by the depending tubular portion of the lid 11. The lower end of the actuator, provided with a diametrically disposed slot 22, engages diaphragm 12, actuating said diaphragm and thereafter maintaining it in the open position, i.e., in the position wherein openings 14 are no longer obstructed by tubular portion 15. Diaphragm 12 remains in said open position as long as the heating device is mounted on the aerosol package. Consequently, once the heating device is mounted on the aerosol package, the pressure inside said heating device is the same as the pressure inside said pressurized aerosol package.

Fixedly mounted within body 16 and extending upwardly into the cup defined by said body is a centrally located cylindrical body 23 having passageways 24 and 25 extending radially therethrough. Passageway 24 interconnects with passageway 21 of valve actuator whereas passageway interconnects with valve chamber 26.

Mounted within the cup defined by body 16 is coiled tubular body 27 having an internal cylindrical passageway 28 extending therethrough. The ends of tubular body 27 are connectively sealed to cylindrical body 23 as to interconnect the inlet means of passageway 28 with passageway 24 and the outlet means thereof with passageway 25.

Located on valve chamber 26 and secured to cylindrical body 23 by crimping the outer edges of the closure member 29 over a bead which surrounds the valve chamber opening in the top of body 23, is diaphragm 30. Said diaphragm, which includes a plurality of openings 31 which are normally closed by the depending tubular portion 32 of closure member 29, is similar in construction and in mode of operation to diaphragm 12 hereinbefore described.

Mounted on cylindrical body 23 and secured thereto by a friction fit, is valve actuator assembly 33 comprising valve button 34, dispensing spout 35 and tubular valve actuator 36. When the user manually depresses valve button 34, tubular valve actuator 36 is displaced downwardly into actuating contact with diaphragm 30. The pressurized products can thus be discharged through openings 31,

through longitudinal groove 37 and thence to the atmosphere through passageway 38 in dispensing spout 35.

The illustrated heating device also comprises an annular top portion 39 which is fitted to the top of body 16.

In operating this device of the invention, the user, after removing the standard valve actuator assembly from a commercial container of aerosol shaving lather, mounts the heater on said container by displacing the unit downwardly as to allow peripheral annular flange 17 to engage the upper rim 19 of the container. Tubular valve actuator 20 comes into actuating contact with diaphragm 12, leaving openings 14 unobstructed.

The user then places the device under a hot water faucet and fills body 16 with hot water. The hot water completely submerges coiled tubular body 27 heating the walls thereof at substantially the temperature of the water itself.

Having removed the device from under the faucet, the user presses actuator button 34 which in turn opens diaphragm 30 as shown in FIG. 1. The liquid soap solution from container 10 is propelled upwardly through dip tube 13, through openings 14, and then through passageways 21 and 24, into passageway 28. As the cold product passes through passageway 28 it becomes heated by heat-conduction through the walls of tubular body 27. Since the product is substantially in the liquid form during the heating cycle, no mechanical or thermal lather breakdown occurs.

The heated product then enters valve chamber 26 through passageway 25 and exits to the atmosphere through openings 31, groove 37 and passageway 38.

As soon as the user has collected the desired amount of product, he discontinues applying pressure on button 34 whereupon diaphragm 30, due to its natural resiliency, returns to the closed position. Any product remaining in the device other than in groove 37 and passageway 38 will return to can 10 by gravity flow thus substantially minimizing the wastage inherent to prior art devices.

In order to obtain optimum heating efficiencies, the heat-conductive body of the present invention has preferably a total volume content not in excess of 5 cubic centimeters and a total heat transfer surface of at least 30 square centimeters. In the most preferred embodiment, the heat-conductive body of the invention is a metallic tube having a total volume content of from about 3 to about 4 cubic centimeters and a total heat transfer surface of at least 60 square centimeters.

The foregoing description is illustrative of the construction and operation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. These and other embodiments should be evident to those skilled in the art in the light of the instant disclosure, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim is:

1. A device for preparing and dispensing heated aerosol foams from a pressurized aerosol-type container provided with a valued outlet member and containing therein a mixture of an aqueous soap solution and a liquefied normallygaseous propellant, said device comprising:

(a) a heat-conductive elongated tubular member having a passageway extending therethrough;

(b) an inlet means on said passageway adapted for interconnection with said outlet member, and having further means maintaining constant continuous communication between the interior of said container and said passageway;

(c) an outlet means on said passageway having a manually-operated discharge valve for maintaining said passageway under container pressure until said valve is opened and for dispensing the contents from said passageway to the atmosphere; and

(d) a body adapted to hold a supply of hot water in heat exchange relationship with said heat-conductive elongated tubular member.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the heat-conductive elongated body portion has a total heat transfer surface of at least 30 square centimeters and the passageway ex- 5 tending therethrough has a total volume up to 5 cubic centimeters.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the heat-conductive elongated body portion has a total heat transfer surface of at least 60 square centimeters, and the passageway extending therethrough has a total volume of from about 3 to about 4 cubic centimeters.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Fouts et a1 222146 X Carter 222146 X Abplanalp 239135 X Reich et a1. 222146 Lerner 222146 Minear 222146 Rossi 22223 Kasparian 222146 Lerner 222146 RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR PREPARING AND DISPENSING HEATED AEROSOL FOAMS FROM A PRESSURIZED AEROSOL-TYPE CONTAINER PROVIDED WITH A VALUED OUTLET MEMBER AND CONTAINING THEREIN A MIXTURE OF AN AQUEOUS SOAP SOLUTION AND A LIQUEFIED NORMALLYGASEOUS PROPELLANT, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING: (A) A HEAT-CONDUCTIVE ELONGATED TUBULAR MEMBER HAVING A PASSAGEWAY EXTENDING THERETHROUGH; (B) AN INLET MEANS ON SAID PASSAGEWAY ADAPTED FOR INTERCONNECTION WITH SAID OUTLET MEMBER, AND HAVING FURTHER MEANS MAINTAINING CONSTANT CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE INTERIOR OF SAID CONTAINER AND SAID PASSAGEWAY; (C) AN OUTLET MEANS ON SAID PASSAGEWAY HAVING A MANUALLY-OPERATED DISCHARGE VALVE FOR MAINTAINING SAID PASSAGEWAY UNDER CONTAINER PRESSURE UNTIL SAID VALVE IS OPENED AND FOR DISPENSING THE CONTENTS FROM SAID PASSAGEWAY TO THE ATMOSPHERE; AND (D) A BODY ADAPTED TO HOLD A SUPPLY OF HOT WATER IN HEAT EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID HEAT-CONDUCTIVE ELONGATED TUBULAR MEMBER. 